Biography: Jason Schwartzman

Jason Schwartzman made his motion picture acting debut for Wes Anderson, starring as Max Fischer in the acclaimed comedy Rushmore, opposite Bill Murray. His performance earned him a nomination for Most Promising Actor from the Chicago Film Critics Association, among other honors. He again starred for Mr. Anderson in The Darjeeling Limited, which the two wrote with Roman Coppola; in the short film Hotel Chevalier; and, in voiceover, on Fantastic Mr. Fox. He appears in the upcoming A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III, written and directed by Mr. Coppola.

The Los Angeles native recently starred for three seasons as Jonathan Ames on HBO’s Brooklyn-based acclaimed television series Bored to Death, alongside Ted Danson and Zach Galifianakis.

In the musical world, he was lead drummer for the Los Angeles-based band Phantom Planet. Their second studio album, The Guest, written in part by Mr. Schwartzman, was released by Epic Records in February 2002; shortly thereafter, the band embarked on a 14-month tour with Incubus. By 2006, he had a new endeavor as a one-man group, under the name Coconut Records. Coconut Records released its debut album, Nighttiming, in 2007, with contributions from Incubus and Kirsten Dunst. Mr. Schwartzman wrote all of the songs and performs the majority of the instruments. The song West Coast was heard in an episode of the television series The O.C. as well as in Matt Reeves’ Cloverfield. Coconut Records’ second album, Davy, was released in January 2009.

This biography/filmography of Jason Schwartzman is courtesy of Focus Features